Prince Caspian UK Hands-on

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Traveller's Tales returns to Narnia.

By Joe Utichi

When a movie tie-in's opening FMV flits between shots from the film and in-game footage and you can't tell the difference between the two, it usually means it's either visually stunning or based on a movie with shoddy effects. Of course, 2005's big-screen adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was nominated for an Oscar for Achievement in Visual Effects, so that should give you some idea of what to expect from Traveller's Tales' upcoming Prince Caspian game.

Holed up in a Cheshire castle, near Traveller's Tales' Knutsford HQ, we recently had chance to go hands-on with the videgame adaptation of Prince Caspian. Having started strongly with the first Narnia game, we were interested to see what the UK developer has in store for its follow-up.

With access to the film's assets, Traveller's Tales has captured Narnia beautifully.

Set 1,300 years after the events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian tells the tale of the titular monarch-in-waiting. His uncle, the evil King Miraz, having usurped the throne with designs to kill Caspian. The prince flees the castle and learns of an ancient Narnia, full of mythical beasts and talking animals, who he seeks to bring out from hiding. Enlisting the help of the four Pevensie children, who return to find Narnia much changed after their first experience, Caspian readies an army to march on Miraz and his Telmarine soldiers.

Anyone who grew up with either C. S. Lewis's books or the BBC's late-eighties Narnia mini-series will know how exciting the prospect of being a part of Narnia is. However, like all movie-to-videogame adaptations, the challenge is finding a way to take a linear narrative and make it feel like a player's choices are actually making a difference to the interactive world they're in. Addressing this, while the Prince Caspian game unsurprisingly sticks to the plot of the movie, Traveller's Tales has included a series of mini-missions in every major level, giving free rein on the order you complete them.

Prince Caspian throws an impressive number of enemies on the screen.

Like the first Narnia game, Prince Caspian groups a handful of characters together in each level and lets you switch between them mid-play. This time though, there are twenty playable characters to choose from, rather than the the four Pevensie children in the first game. Here you can control fauns, centaurs, dwarves and even trees, each with their own unique skills and abilities. Is this the first game ever to feature a playable tree? Combine that with the controllable antics of everyone's favourite sword-wielding mouse, Reepicheep, and you just may have stumbled into controllable-character heaven.